Jesus tells believers they are “in the world” but “not of it.”

Such Christian inspiration is important to cling to as believers are bombarded by a hostile world that seeks to ridicule and marginalize those who share their faith. It used to be that America was a Christian nation. Read our founding fathers. There’s no mistaking that the vast majority of them felt that the Bible and Christian values were essential to the success of this country,

Things, of course, have changed. Today, Christians are sneered at. Made fun of. Labeled as “intolerant.” Movies and mainstream media invariably portray Christians as kooks and extremists. Read the rest of this entry »

As reported in Harper’s magazine and The New York Times, the world is reeling from political processes taking place in Uganda-namely the persecution of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender (LGBT) peoples. The anti-gay movement has strengthened over the last year, creating a rift between humanity and piousness. Uganda’s parliament passed a formal ban on LGBT practices-known as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill-and, through the creation of a witch trial-type tableau, also forces citizens to turn in any known offender (a.k.a. – homosexuals). In addition, the law is just one particular implement for the persecution of LGBT peoples; if a person is not arrested first, they might be subjected to beatings, harassment, lynching, or even “corrective rape” by a mob of the law’s supporters. Either way, the Ugandan parliament has made it abundantly clear that the LGBT community is not welcome. LGBT groups are also given the same treatment in some Islamic countries, with the slight difference being that Uganda is populated by Evangelical Christians. But which came first? the religious zeal or the hatred? the chicken or the egg? According to the many articles relating the atrocities, both happened almost simultaneously. In Jeff Sharlett’s article “Straight Man’s Burden,” he points to the highly influential evangelicals’ spreading of a hateful message against gays, asserting that gays and lesbians can be cured through faith. In the New York Times article “Americans’ Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push,” Ugandans in reputable positions

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Channel 4 did another of the media’s hatchet jobs on the Bible (I eagerly
await their first demolition of the Koran) with Tony Robinson fulminating on
the evils of ‘end-timers’ in his two hour documentary ‘The Doomsday Code.’
Ghostly voices quoted from apocalyptic parts of the Bible, notably Daniel
and Revelation, while weird demonic looking beings jerked too and fro.
Evangelical preachers from America (mainly) were given a platform and then
made to look ridiculous (not a single Brit amongst them – why don’t they
ever talk to local British Christians on these programmes?). A few charges
made against the evangelicals were that they are responsible for

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